Snapping a dry branch from one of the scrubby trees nearby, I drew a circle about six feet around. As soon as Sienna and I are both within the circle, I bit hard into my wrist and walked the length of the circle, letting the substance drip into the ravine I’d made. It reminded me of building sand castles on the beach with Cat, when we were both much younger. I knew when I’d managed to fuel the spell because the circle began to glow a light silver in response to the borrowed power Sienna was exerting.
I didn’t need Sienna’s prompting to know what came next. I laid down at the center of the circle and waited for the shade to begin her work. The sky above me was an endless black void devoid of stars. Gazing into the impenetrable darkness, I suddenly felt as if the world had swallowed me whole. Blue flames from the circle licked at the edges of my vision. Sienna knelt down next to me and braced my head between her freezing palms.
“This might feel strange,” she murmured. “I’m not used to taking visitors along for a ride.”
“No, you just normally dump their ass in a hell dimension,” I drawled. Her ghostly hands swept clear through my head, scrambling my thoughts with a fierce wave of cold. When I returned to some semblance of thought my teeth were chattering and my body was shivering.
“What the fuck, Sienna?”
“I’m doing you a favor,” she snapped at me. “Don’t smart off to me.”
“Sorry, force of habit,” I muttered.
“Now close your eyes.”
I reluctantly let my eyes slide closed and I waited for the coming magic. I expected it to be a hot, wild torrent like Valerius’ magic. Instead, it crept, almost like the liquid slide of sleep that came with really good pain medication. I let my mind drift, without a thought or a care in the world.
What could have been seconds or hours later, my eyes snapped open and I stared in wonder at the map of stars that were arrayed above me. Each shone like a silver torch, and somehow, though they were still distant, I could see the fire that raged on the surface of each one.
I was floating weightless in a void that should have been cold but wasn’t. The vacuum of space didn’t suck the air from my lungs or crush me flat. I craned my neck this way and that, trying to pinpoint anything that might seem familiar. After a minute of observation, I found I didn’t recognize any of the constellations around me. One star shone brighter than any of the others in the vicinity, and it seemed to be getting closer.
“Where are we?” I asked Valerius.
“The realm of Huitzilopochtli,” Valerius said grimly. “Prepare yourself. He comes.”
chapter
14
AT FIRST, I DIDN’T KNOW where to direct my eyes. Where was this god coming from?
The answer became blindingly apparent when a streak of blue fire separated itself from a distant rock and came streaking toward my position. I reached automatically for my wand, before recalling that it wasn’t going to do me any good. No matter how solid I felt on this plane, my body was merely a construct. A projection of my soul. I couldn’t actually carry any physical possessions on my person.
On the one hand, that could have its advantages. I was a manifestation of light and pure magic. My body wouldn’t grow weak or tire easily, and the vacuum of space wouldn’t kill me. On the other, it meant that any damage done to me here would affect my soul. Without that, I’d be little more than a corpse. Dom could find my cold, dead body waiting for him in the morning, with no explanation as to why I wasn’t coming back.
The thought gave me a burst of inspiration. Of course. Why hadn’t I thought of it before? The surest way to kill Ewan was to separate him from his body, which was as dead as mine. Without a connection to it or Bryne, he wouldn’t be coming back. It was something I’d need to discuss with Sienna when I returned. If I returned.
The flame resolved itself into a giant of a man only a few moments later. The flames went out, revealing a hulking, vibrantly blue figure. He was toned in a way that only dedicated athletes could achieve, with muscles that suggested he might have bench-pressed Holsteins in his spare time. The beaked skull of a hummingbird shadowed most of his face, and heavy gold armor gleamed from his wrists and shoulders.
His voice was the aural equivalent of an avalanche and his eyes burned like blue fire as he glared down at me. A cape of black and red feathers drifted behind him, and both his tongue and fingers were barbed and unnatural long.
“You dare to enter my realm, spirit?” he boomed.
God, how was I going to beat this man when the very sound of his voice hurt my ears?
“You betcha I dare,” I gritted out between my teeth. “There’s too much on the line not to dare. So get over it, buddy, I didn’t see a no trespassing sign on your lawn.”
He just stared at me uncomprehendingly. I sighed. So much for witty repartee with my opponent. I doubted he even knew what a lawn was. He lived in outer space, after all.
He examined me more critically when I didn’t back down, glowing ember eyes narrowing.
“Parasite,” he hissed. His face contorted in rage as he stared me down. Oh great. I’d managed to piss off the war god in three seconds flat. That had to be a new record.
“I think he means you,” I whispered privately to Valerius.
He does indeed mean me, Valerius intoned. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. The nuances of sarcasm would be forever lost on my companion, it seemed. Perhaps I should have warned against this plan. Huitzilopochtli bears me ill will after I tore his spleen out during the final battle.
The vivid picture of the evisceration flashed through my mind, along with the final climactic battle that had sealed Valerius and Bryne away in Mictlan for good. Holy shit, but Valerius could take some punishment. Huitzilopochtli took a giant step toward me, hand outstretched to seize me by the throat. I leaped away, narrowing avoiding the destruction of my trachea.
“Yeah, that would have been good to know before we came,” I hissed back.
How did I go about starting a dialogue now? This man clearly didn’t want to hear a word I said.
“Huitzilopochtli, I beseech thee—” I winced. God, that sounded stupid. “I mean you no harm.”
“Your trickery will not have a foothold here, parasite,” he hissed. “Cease this foolishness and fight me.”
I threw my hands up in surrender. “I didn’t come here to fight! I came here because I need to slash Bryne and her host into a million tiny pieces and the only weapon that I know of that can kill them belongs to you. Or did my abuelo have it wrong?”
The man halted and gave me a pointed sneer. “You speak the language of the invaders. Even if I believed anything that spews forth from your lips, that alone is an insult.”
Guilt rammed into my gut like a physical blow. It was unthinking and unreasonable, because there would never have been a chance for me to learn Nahuatl. Not even my grandfather spoke the old tongue, and he’d been a believer his whole life.
Allow me to speak, Valerius demanded. I balked, unsure. What if my wayward demon decided to start throwing punches?
“No funny stuff,” I warned him.
I assure you this conversation will not be amusing.
I sighed once in exasperation before ceding control to the demon. When I had, he held my body straighter, the anxiety that had curled my shoulders forward mostly dissipating. It was interesting to note that even Valerius had some fear when facing the war god.
“Huitzilopochtli, I seek not to destroy you.” My voice boomed into the vastness of space, almost as intimidating as the galaxy-shaking voice of the war god. “I come with a statement of purpose.”
“And that purpose is?”
“My former host has convinced me to stay my wrath and preserve the humans. And I have agreed to do so, so long as I am allowed to slay your sister Coyolxauhqui. My host has need of your weapon for such a purpose. Will you surrender it, or shall I pry it from your cold, dead hands?”
I cringed away from his pronouncement at
once. Apparently, my demon hadn’t heard of tact, either.
“You can’t just declare you want to kill his sister to his face!”
I imagined what I’d do if someone threatened Cat that overtly and could only assume I’d want to beat them bloody, for a start. I could only imagine what the god of war would do to us for such a threat. Valerius rolled my eyes heavenward.
“Huitzilopochtli has four hundred siblings and bears his sister no love. He sprung fully formed from his mother’s womb in order to combat her. He tore her head from her shoulders when he was but a day old.”
I goggled at this new information and the images that accompanied it. And I thought my family had been dysfunctional.
“Four hundred kids? And I thought Catholic families had it bad,” I muttered.
“Coyolxauhqui is dead,” the war god scoffed. “I killed her myself.”
“Do not treat me like a fool,” Valerius growled. “We know she was reborn and took to the sky once more this last millennium. I will give you my solemn oath that I will harm no one but Coyolxauhqui. Now hand over your weapon.”
The god’s face broke into a wide grin, which didn’t make him any less terrifying. In fact, the anticipation that glowed in his amber eyes made my chest squeeze tight with fear. I’d worn that look in the past. I knew a man looking for a fight when I saw one.
“I will make you a wager, parasite, but be warned, it will be difficult,” the war god said, pacing away from me to sit on the surface of the nearest meteor. It was only about the side of a large boulder, but it was still an impressive sight.
Valerius quirked an imperious brow at him. “Your terms?”
“I will hand over my sword if you are able to fight me to a draw for the next ten mortal minutes. Any longer than that and I would surely destroy your host. If you both prove yourself worthy of the weapon, I will allow you to keep it for as long as it takes to complete your mission. What say you?”
Valerius bared my fangs in a grin. “I thought you said this challenge would be difficult?”
Huitzilopochtli’s massive biceps rippled with power as he reached behind his back, withdrawing something from the sheath strapped there.
I was glad that I wasn’t currently in control of my body, because I was pretty sure I would have turned and run the other way.
The war god’s weapon wasn’t anything like I’d been expecting. When I heard the word sword, I generally imagined a knight in full armor hefting a broadsword above his head, ready to cut down a swath of enemies. The war god’s weapon was nothing so mundane. He withdrew something that rippled and shone with blue fire. Beneath the glare, I spotted a turquoise serpent.
“What the hell is it with you people and snakes?” I wondered, the thought half-edged with panic. I hadn’t had Ophidiophobia before this, I certainly would acquire it after this little trip.
“Calm yourself, host. We do battle in mere seconds.”
Yeah, that wasn’t making me feel any better.
“Give me back control,” I demanded. “He said both of us have to prove ourselves.”
“You will not survive it,” he argued stubbornly.
“We need that sword, Valerius. Lend me your strength and we’ll do it together.”
I could sense his reluctance, but control slowly seeped back into my limbs. Valerius didn’t retreat fully, as he always had. I could still feel him in my limbs, strength and power imbuing my every move. It felt like wearing the world’s best power armor, but without being encumbered by the weight.
Projections couldn’t use magic, just like ghosts, because magic came from life force. But I wasn’t unarmed. Reaching behind me, I drew the shield off of its strap, sliding my arm into the brackets. Then I withdrew the spear and flicked it open. It fit into my palm as though it had been made specifically for me, but expanded until it was as long as a javelin. The shaft had been worn down so it was almost soft to the touch, and warmed beneath my grip. I’d never fought with a spear in my life, but somehow I knew just how to heft the weapon into position. Valerius’ doing, I supposed.
The second I was in position, the war god came at me with a terrifying battle cry. The snake he held in his hand bunched and coiled before snapping forward, flying straight at my face like an electric whip. I ducked, raising my shield high so the snake struck the shield. It dented, and the impact sent me wheeling through the weightless void, careening toward a meteor. This next one was so far in the distance that my skin actually burned with the velocity I achieved sailing toward it.
Valerius seized momentary control, flipping us in a move worthy of an action film so that we avoided crashing into the giant hunk of space rock by mere centimeters. I swallowed nervously. If I’d impacted that at full speed, it would have shattered my spine into dust.
Sweet hopscotching Jesus. How the hell was I supposed to beat this guy when his opening move had been to punt me halfway across the galaxy? I took a deep breath to calm myself, before I realized there was no air in this realm, and my real lungs were back in Mictlan.
This was a spiritual quest, which meant raw strength wasn’t going to cut it here, only determination and acumen. It was a contest of wills, not of bodies. Someone had to stand between Ewan and the rest of the world. It would have to be me.
I spun and used all the new strength that Valerius had imbued me with to push off the meteor, hurtling toward my opponent.
The war god spun in a move just as quickly as mine and I raised the shield just in time to stop the strike of the turquoise snake as it lashed out at me. The shield trembled beneath the onslaught. The impact knocked most of the feeling from my arm.
The war god’s arm shot out as I passed, snagging me by the ankle. He spun me once and then let go, sending me hurtling through the air like a stone from a sling. This time his aim was better and he sent me rushing toward one of the blindingly bright specs of light in the distance. Valerius was only able to stop me from being hurled headfirst into the burning ball of gas by digging my fingers into the rock of a nearby meteor. As it was, the effort took several layers of skin and ripped loose a fingernail.
It was hard to tell at this distance, but I thought the war god might be smirking. He was just going to continue this game, tossing me like a Frisbee around the universe until the ten minutes were up. And then he’d deny me the weapon I needed.
“Not going to fucking happen,” I snarled to Valerius. “We have to do something.”
Agreed. Suggestions?
I took stock of all the powers I currently possessed, laid bare as they were on my arms. Fire, darkness, blood, and death. I had an arsenal of power at my disposal. I just had to figure out how to use it.
A plan slowly congealed in my head as the war god began his charge toward us. Defeating him would take trickery, not straightforward warfare. I just had to utilize my powers to ambush him.
The darkness around us felt like velvet brushing my skin when I finally stretched out my senses to touch it. I seized a fraction of it, swathing myself in the inky blackness, disappearing against the backdrop of space. The war god’s eyes wheeled as he searched for me. I seized my opportunity and sent my spear hurtling for him. The tip blossomed into flame at my prompting. I did not pull the layer of darkness away from it until it was too late, and it struck the war god in the shoulder, burning a hole into one massive haunch of muscle as it tore its way through. It sailed out the other side and, with just a thought, flew back to my hand.
The god tracked the spear as it returned to me and then struck at the place I’d been. I sidestepped, but not quickly enough. One of the snake’s fangs grazed my forearm and a hot, prickling pain swept through my body. My stomach rolled and I fought the urge to throw up.
We must end this quickly, Valerius urged, and for the first time in my tenure with him, I heard something like fear in his voice. The venom of Xiuhcóatl will kill you in a matter of minutes if we remain on this astral plane.
“What the—why didn’t you warn me
about this earlier?”
Would you have been as eager to fight?
Probably not. But I would still have given it a solid try, regardless.
Now that I’d seen Huitzilopochtli’s weapon in action, I knew I needed it to defeat Ewan.
“What do you suggest?” I asked.
We cannot kill him. His orbit keeps darkness at bay. It would cause catastrophe to replace him. All humans would die.
“Not helping. What do we do to stop him?”
Do you recall your trick with the snake?
I saw vaguely the direction he was heading and nodded grimly. I had to keep him immobile, but alive. I could feel the weakness seeping through me even now, the venom eating through my astral body like a corrosive acid. I had to end its boss and get back into my real body before it ate away my soul completely, destroying the tether.
I drew the spear across my forearm with a small cry of pain, drawing forth a gush of pure essence. It floated like glittering sapphires in the vacuum of space for a protracted second before I ran my fingers through the beads, forming them into one long line that hardened into a steely but flexible wire beneath my hands.
Satisfied with it, I tucked away my shield and spear.
Drawing the cloak of darkness around myself even tighter, I flew at the god, aiming for his throat. His dodge wasn’t completely unexpected, so I changed course at the last minute, seizing his wrist, drawing my wire around his wrist tight like a tourniquet. He snatched at the captive hand with a planet-shaking growl of fury and swatted at me. With Valerius guiding my body, I did a one-eighty flip that took me out of his range. I used the opportunity to seize the other hand and secure it to the bound one.
Agent of Magic Box Set Page 54
